Although it’s never fun to watch the league revel in free agency while your team stays sits on its hands, conventional practice and recent history provided the forecast for the opening of free agency for the Cowboys this week.

While the dust settles on the first few days of free agency and we kick off the new league year, fans once again find themselves with a bad taste in their mouths as Dallas once again remained relatively quiet during one of the busiest times of the offseason. There is still a lot of big-name potentials left for grabs, however, it would seem the Cowboys seem intent on focusing their efforts on bargain shopping and developing through the draft; a place in the universe where the Cowboys have found some measure of success recently.

Watching the world pass by is not a fun experience, especially when the one free agent rumored to be tied to the Cowboys- for over a year and a half- up and signs with Baltimore. Fans can go ahead and blame the media for that one though since nobody within the organization had actually even uttered the words “Earl” and “Thomas” since their last attempt to trade for him. Even though free agency hasn’t been as fun as it could be, it’s still a nice contrast to a time when the cap meant less to Jerry than having the players he wanted, cost being no object.

However, fans have been under the impression for years now that the Cowboys are on the cusp of making a run at another title, yet still, seem unable to take the next step. If that were actually the case, wouldn’t the organization break convention and load up on talent to make a playoff run? Both the Rams of last season and Philly of two seasons ago did just that- they recognized how good they were, and made the acquisitions they needed to. I sincerely doubt that the organization just doesn’t “believe” in winning; if they believed it was time to make the push, then we would know it.

So, what’s the real issue?

From the fan perspective, it would seem as though if an issue existed that wasn’t being brought to light, it would either lie with the coaching or at quarterback. The Cowboys’ recent issues seem to have stemmed from either or both of those positions and with both Dak and Jason Garrett’s contracts up at the end of this next season, if we don’t see the organization either have an astounding season or make some serious roster additions either this summer or by the 2019 trade deadline, then it will be about time for the organization to finally be honest about what it is they believe to be their biggest issue.

Not making big additions in free agency is ok, but constantly telling fans how close they are yet doing nothing to back these claims is a big tell about how the organization actually feels about their on-field product.

Of course, this is all speculation from someone who is just a glorified fan. But also as a glorified fan, watching the free agency scramble come and go without the Cowboys making a splash once again kind of sucks, and this is an extended version of your stock emotional response from an irrational fan.

Although not breaking the bank for star players has become part of the Cowboys identity- and it’s been a good thing- there is still plenty of opportunity for Dallas to pull the trigger and make the moves fans are ready for- and mostly believe the team ready to make a run and at least make some waves in the postseason. That window won’t stay open for much longer.